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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Chinese New Year 2015 - Looking for Year of the Sheep & A Good Friend!

Gung Hay Fat
Choy! Ms. Brigid here, from Merit School of Music in
Chicago, IL, wishing you a Happy New Year – again! Thank you for joining me!

Today is New Year’s Eve of the
Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year. We’re leaving Year of the Horse and entering Year
of the Sheepon Feb.19.

I wrote about customs associated
with this 15-day celebration in last year’s post, Gung
Hay Fat Choy! You’ll find a rich and colorful resource of song
suggestions, favorite books, fireworks and Chinese instruments apps, and links
to stories, a parade, lion dancers and dancing dragons.

Looking For A Good Friend

Dance into the new ear with How Pung Yo, a popular Chinese singing
game. Full disclosure: I teach the game in English. The version you chose
depends on the personality of your class and what level of movement you want to
encourage, but the progression below is from the simplest to the most
complicated and active. Those lucky enough to own I Will Be Your Friend or Roots
& Branches can listen to lovely and distinctly different versions of
the song on the accompanying CDs – but never fear! YouTube is here to help!

My kiddos delight in this YouTube
video (“Looking For Friends”) of cheery animals dancing together. I share it
on my iPad before introducing the singing game, and ask children to watch
closely and imitate the animals’ movements. It is helpful to practice bowing
and shaking hands with a partner before starting.

Teach the song
to the children. Make a circle, with one child in the center of the ring. This
child is “It,” and walks or skips inside the circle while children are
singing. He/she stops in front of another child at the end of the line, “Now I find a good friend.”On “Jeeng
gah lee ah/ I bow to you” the two bow to each other, then shake hands on “Wah guh sho/ I shake your hand.” On the
last line, they trade places, with the new friend going into the center.Repeat. Continue until everyone has had
a turn (no repeats!).Teaching
Tolerance: I Will Be Your Friend (Gao
Hong - I Find a Good Friend)

(2)Everyone looks for a new friend while singing.

All the children play and look for a
friend simultaneously. Everyone walks or skips for the first two lines
of the song, then turns to the nearest friend, bows and shakes their hand. At
the end of the song, dancers wave goodbye to each other. Repeat, finding a new
friend. Chinese American Service League
(CASL), Chicago

(3) Long dragon-dancer trains of new friends weave around
the room while all sing.

Follow
directions for #1 (above), but instead of trading places, the new friend holds
gently on to the shoulder of the first child (“It”). Repeat the song, adding a
new friend with each repetition.New friends are added to the end of the train, until everyone is
selected.

Note: Only the first child (the leader)
shakes hands with children as they are added.

After dancing, it’s
time to scare away any bad luck that may be lurking about! I bring double sided
spin-drums from different parts of the world and let my kiddos explore the sonic
difference between drums while madly twirling the drum’s spindle!Things we find out: Big drums are lower
in sound, small drums are high. Wood sounds different than hide or plastic or paper, etc.
Speed of spinning alters the sound. We’re musical scientists!

Whether they’re
called den- den (Japan), bolang jo
(China), damru (Tibet, India), flip, spin or pellet drums, they are fun for one and all. I’ve made versions of spin-drums,
mostly with paper plates and beads, but this year I’m going to try something
new, inspired by a Learning 4 Kids
post: Homemade
Musical Instrument: Den Den Drum, which uses wooden spoons as the
instrument base. Look out world!

I am continually inspired by The Children’s Music Network (CMN) community. an
international group of socially conscious musicians, educators, librarians,
families, songwriters and good people, who “celebrate the positive power of
music in the lives of children by sharing songs, exchanging ideas, and creating
community.” Please visit CMN, and find a gathering in your region.